Matt Mason, a Lake Geneva Wedding photographer, took some amazing video footage in January 2010 of many of the Boe-Craft owners on Geneva Lake. The area of sailable ice was small but was sufficient size to make the video. Enjoy!

March 28th, 2017Here are a couple of photos from Larry Happ from the first day of the BoeCraft Championship Regatta.
I will be posting many more on a page labeled 2017 Regatta pictures. You can find the button just above the header picture above.

February 28th, 2017The 2017 ISA Championship Regatta was sailed at Battle Lake Minnesota February 24th through the 26th.
A total of five B Skeeters raced, three BoeCraft and two Yankees. B and C sail together in the ISA with the fleets alternating sides of the start line for each race. There was a five mile commute from the launch to the good ice of the racing area in the northwest end of Battle Lake. On Friday the 20 to 30 mph winds started slow but built to un-sailable conditions. Everyone made their way back in except Jordan Glaser who seemed to be missing. When we went back out to find him it turned out he was missing some of the weld on his steering fork shaft.

Jay Yaeso and Jim McDonagh on recovery duty.

Saturday the wind cooperated and two light air and two moderate wind races were sailed by the B fleet. Jim McDonagh was in second in the first race when the spar on Puffer exploded in a spectacular manner. With the mast fit only for chowder heating, we were down to four.
Fritz won that first race going away from the rest of us.
In the second and third races the wind was up putting all the equipment to a maximum stress test.
The last race was started in a brief lull in a snow squall. The visibility deteriorated quickly, but with a total of five boats on the race course we stayed safe and just followed Pat Heppert's C skeeter around to the finish.
The snow never really stopped as the wind died and everyone struggled to make the long commute back.
The next morning we had five inches of powdery snow. The plug was pulled early and we loaded up for the ride home.

The Pits - Friday morning

Keith Kennedy with his Yankee and Mark Hancik on the right.

Mark's Yankee early morning.

Pat Heppert's C Skeeter I 291 - He is so fast now we just watch him out front to get a read on wind shifts coming our way.

February 21st, 2017After finding a dozen skimmed over drain holes in five minutes of checking on Wednesday morning the 8th, we loaded up all the boats hoping for a new deeper temperature shift toward normal.
That did not happen and increasingly warm temperatures have taken out most of the remaining ice.
At this point the Iceboat racing season on Geneva is done.

We will head north for the ISA/NIYA regattas, most likely we will end up in Minnesota.

Fritz reworked the marks with all new blaze orange fabric. we should be able to see them next year.

The transport mode on Geneva this morning was by Kayak. Lunch was done next to the last sunken ice in Fontana at Glenwood Springs in the shadow of the high shoreline that kept the sun off it.

That is the last of the frost leaving the sand on the Fontana Beach at noon today. The 2016-2017 season vaporized.

February 5th, 2017The BoeCraft Championship Regatta took place on Friday and Saturday February 3rd and 4th, 2017 on the east end of Geneva Lake. We ended up with a crusty sticky surface that required maximum power at all times.
Three races were sailed in winds of 13-18 mph on Friday with a northwest wind that turned sideways a quarter mile off shore making the windward mark rounding a challenge every time.
Saturday the wind was big and gusty from the south and two races were sailed before pulling the plug for safety concerns. Sticky and gusty are a bad combo.
Sunday dawned with good wind but changes in the ice conditions. The ice was faster and less sticky, but two major cracks opened and built up big lumpy jumps that were impossible to race over. With those cracks taking out the west part of the area, the fishing seemed to have improved enough to take out most of the remaining area. With only a 6/10th mile leg the regatta was called complete and only the DNs raced the small sheet of ice.

Jason Thompson wins the Jack in the Green Trophy for the last regatta race.

February 2nd, 2017The slush froze with an extreme texture that grabs the runners, but there was enough wind to offset the drag. Three races were sailed in 12 to 20 mph of breeze. We started right on time at 2 pm and finished covering and packing up for the day as the sun went down. A beautiful afternoon of racing on Geneva Lake.

January 31st, 2017Monday night snow and rain yielded less than 3/4" of slush in the racing area. A little test in the gusty winds to check was enough. No more sailing to keep ruts out of tomorrow afternoon's race course.

January 30th, 2017After a 10 day break of unnaturally spring like weather, the ice stiffened up enough for us to check the ice properly on Delavan and Geneva.
We set up off the Center Street ramp in Lake Geneva on Sunday morning and started the first race of the Championship series at 1:00 pm sharp.
Three races were sailed in increasing breeze, with most the of the last race in the high teens with puffs over twenty.

January 16th, 2017The east end of Geneva worked out for sailing on Thursday and Friday with a couple of races on Saturday the 14th. The whole area between the narrows and Big Foot Beach proved to be in a solid #8 condition. A two hour walk and thickness check was done on Wednesday afternoon, followed by nearly two hours of slowly sailing the whole area, stopping to check anything that looked questionable.

Made good use of the Boehmke single seat we got for parts to check the new ice slowly.

Eight boats came to the start line on Saturday afternoon. We got one good race in and one really light air challenge.

January 2nd, 2016Skeeter Iceboat Club racing is cancelled through Wednesday January 4th. Delavan may be ready by Friday the 6th but no earlier. Need to make thickness from zero in an unknown number of locations, and the temp will not go below freezing until Tuesday after dark.
Best to chill while it is chilling.

January 2nd, 2016The 2016-2017 season opened at the Grand Slam Regatta on Lake Kegonsa. This regatta is a Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club tradition that goes back decades.

Thanks to the Four Lakes Club and Geoff Sobering for the Drone video.

This is the first time the BoeCraft boats got their own start.
Four boats made the trip and a good time was had by all.
RJ Porter sailed his first race ever and sorted out the weak points in Maverick on the first day.

View from Springer's - Lunch at the Grand Slam Saturday December 31st 2016.

On New Year's Day two races were sailed with just two boats. Runner to runner match racing for both races.
Thanks to the Race Committee for all the hard work.2016 Grand Slam Regatta - BoecraftLake Kegonsa

Rank

Boat

Class

SailNo

HelmName

R1

R2

R3

R4

R5

R6

Total

1st

Skating Away II

B

I 564

Steve Schalk

1.0

2.0

1.0

2.0

1.0

1.0

8.0

2nd

Akebono

B

I 270

Rick Pappas

2.0

1.0

2.0

1.0

2.0

2.0

10.0

3rd

B-Sting II

B

I 228

Fritz Button

4.0

3.0

3.0

3.0

6.0 DNC

6.0 DNC

25.0

4th

Maverick

B

I 565

R.J. Porter

3.0

6.0 DNF

4.0

4.0

6.0 DNC

6.0 DNC

29.0

5th

C

V 66

Bill Dale

5.0

4.0

6.0 DNC

6.0 DNC

6.0 DNC

6.0 DNC

33.0

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.19.8

Ready to go, waiting for ice.

November 28th, 2016Repairs from last year's 23 days of sailing and 32 races have all been completed. Last to be finished was akebono's paint.

Official Inspector?

In addition to the split hull side on akebono, Willowbender and Royal Wulff had holes in their bottoms repaired.
Willowbender patched:
Varnished:

The Wulff patches in progress
Varnished:

A pair of Boehmke single seat boats were acquired by Casey to fully stock up the spare parts bin for the entire fleet. The masts, planks, springboards, and booms were all perfect for spares and in good condition. One of the hulls was so perfect, that it was decided that it should not be parted out for hardware and instead saved to be pleasure sailed this season.
Lil Audrey II belonged originally to Mick Woeltje, who raced it from 1963 to 1973 in the A skeeter class. With a good clean and wax, and some steering component upgrades for safety, it is ready to go looking like it just left the Boehmke shop in Crystal Lake in 1963.

August 15th, 2016Here is a link from last winter of sailing and racing at Delavan Lake. A little breath of cool air to get through the summer.

February 18th, 2016The Northwestern Ice Yachting Association Regatta for 2016 is in the books, sailed on Lake Monona in Madison Wisconsin.
With high winds predicted for Friday afternoon, two race courses were used to get racing completed as quickly as possible.
Winds for the second B Skeeter race were 18/19 gusting to 22 and at times 25 mph.
During a tight two boat race, one bottom board of the runner plank on I 564 snapped shortly before the last windward mark rounding. 564 held on for the win, but the plank had no more races left in it at the end of the day.
Sitting in second place, Rick Pappas pulled his trailer back to Fontana and picked up the spare plank for 564.
Saturday Morning in -3F, Rick, Jimmy, Lyle and Pat Heppert helped flip the hull, line up the runner plank, drill holes and remount the framing stays. All was back in order for racing before the afternoon start at 12:45 pm.
A better example of the Corinthian spirit of sailing competition would be hard to find.

Joe Stanton photo

The light air race that afternoon was taken by Bob Mereness. All four boats in the race led at some point, and three of the four were also last at some point - except Bob, who was never last and won by a couple of boat lengths.

On Sunday one more race in medium wind was completed before snow wiped out the visibility.

February 7th, 2016After a tour of all the Geneva Lake launch ramps, (breaking up most) we entertained the tourists with a sail in the bay of Lake Geneva.
We quickly pulled off and left when the racing area turned out to be the size of a closet.
Back to Delavan where we received a hearty welcome from the locals after providing planks for their launch ramp.

January 31st, 2016Nine boats got in a couple of Saturday morning series races on the far east end of Delavan lake on the 30th. The black ice without snow ice cover held up better than the wind velocity as the wind went away just after the second race finish.
It was a short course to stay on the hard ice and away from the high Assembly point shoreline, so each race was five laps.

January 27th, 2016The rain and snow showers did a little smoothing but left a sticky surface. In 14 to 25 mph of wind, sticky was not much of a problem for Wednesday afternoon racing.
The wind was shifting 20 degrees back and forth around South Southwest. Really fast and challenging.

January 25th, 2016Light winds kept most of the Boecraft fleet off Delavan Lake on Saturday the 23rd, but Sunday was a full day of back to back races. All five Championship races were sailed, with Dan Janikowski dominating in the light to medium wind. The races were 6.5 miles long in total and took 16 to 18 minutes to complete for the lead boats.

Thanks to Burly and Fritz for starting and scoring for us all day long.

We had twelve boats on the line with Todd Morgan coming from Green Lake to join in the fun.

Burly sailed out to start and score races for us for the first afternoon of the season.
It was good to have the SIBC DN guys out as well, so we could get some breaks between races.
Fine weather, plenty of wind - a classic perfect race day

January 13th, 2016The first day of sailing on our local lakes was today on Como. The drifts were no higher than 3" after moving toward the southeast last night. Wind at 12-15, a nice flat surface, and only 1-2 inch drifts made for a nice ride.
Burly Brellenthin, 90 years young getting unrigged at the end of a fine day on Como.

In spite of the sign, there is not open water any more - we did check before we set up!

January 9th, 2016A great Road Trip to Lake Puckaway on Wednesday January 6th. Perfect wind conditions and lots of support from Peter and Drew Vandervelde.

Peter even set up a practice race course so we could get some starts and mark roundings in.
Great hospitality and fine sailing conditions.
Thanks Peter!

December 11th, 2015New cockpit roll and trailer for the Royal Wulff

November 28th, 2015Boats and trailers are being readied for ice that has not yet arrived. Here are some of the results of work done this summer and fall:

Troy Soberg Finished his boat AND trailer.

Burly Brellenthin's boat got a fresh coat of paint on the deck.

Mike Ortiz got a full make over to all Blonde parts and electric blue deck.

Don Cain got a full professional make over from glass covered to clear coated paint and Blond sides.

October 24th, 2015Time to once again get ready for the upcoming season. There have been some repair and refurbishments going on this last warm season.

Troy Soberg has reworked the old Montana repair on Joe College.

While he was at it he decided to add handles to save our backs!

Currently the rest of the hull has been stripped, re-blonded and is getting many coats of varnish.

July 15th, 2015Boecraft and SIBC sailors gathered at the Cruise-In in Walworth to celebrate Burly Brellenthin's 90th birthday. A good time was had by all. Thanks to Chuck and Casey for getting everyone together.
Burly is still pleasure sailing and running races for us. His career spans the entire history of the skeeter. He started out racing in the sternsteerer Dorla, and then went on to race the Clancey very successfully with Glydwell Gerber before he moved into skeeters.
He will probably be the first on to the ice again next season.

April 12th, 2015The combined Boecraft and SIBC Tophy Banquet was held on Saturday April 11th at Café Calamari. A good time was had by all.

Promises of great ice and dozens of races for next season were made by the incoming officers.

January 22nd, 2015We started setting up off the Fontana Beach on January 15th, with only a couple of hundred yards of ice thick enough to sail.
As we wait for the ice thickness to grow in the center, lots of minor repairs and maintenance has been underway.